Welcome to The Garage. Just like a real garage, we keep all sorts of cool things in The Garage. You’ll find stories, reviews, news, pictures and other stuff about cars and other things we might find in any garage.
Contact info
Do you have any tips or ideas for things we should cover here in The Garage? If so, the easiest way to reach me is by e-mail at thegarageguy @ rogers.com
Bio: Gary Grant
What do I know about cars? Why would you care?
There are a lot of so called experts in the wonderful world of the automobile. While I hardly consider myself an expert, cars have been an undeniable force in my life, since before I was born.
In the late Sixties and early Seventies, my dad was an active road racer up here in Ontario, meaning that baby Gary was dragged around all over the place. The smell of hot Castrol R was burned into my brain and left a lasting impression.
Growing up, I hung out with the Ranta family & spent many summers turning wrenches on race karts and travelling to tracks all over Ontario. The Ranta garage was a favourite place for me, with possibly the coolest collection of air cooled wonders imaginable. Including a very early Porsche 901, a Hebmuller, a couple of Corvairs and assorted rear engine Volkswagens.
In high school, my buddies and I built a few VW GTI’s to various levels of tune and I began my own competition career with a few auto crosses and navigational rallies. In the late eighties and into the Nineties, the lovely & talented Mrs. Grant and I crewed for a couple of teams in the Firehawk series and regional racing, along with a couple of performance rally teams. At the same time, we were busy racking up miles on the car doing navigational rallies and solo 1 & 2. Eventually we ended up pairing up in a Swift GTi performance rally car. Today, the competitive efforts have returned to karting as we coach our 12 year old at the Mosport Kart Club.
On the professional side, I’ve worked in new car dealership service departments for almost 18 years. For the last 6 years, I’ve been a Service Manager.
Through all of this, I’ve kept my childish obsession with cars and car racing. Now that I’ve discovered blogging I have a way to share that obsession with the world!
Member
Popularity: 12%
31 comments ↓
Hi garage guy, i like the new look of your blog, you did a great job. Everything looks like its working good so far.
I will check it out more in the morning.
See Yeah!
Thanks Brian, We are very happy with the way things are progressing here.
Hey Gary,
I’ve been entertained by your site for some time now…it’s just excellent for us car guys.
With the holidays approaching, I’m writing to ask if you see some way for my company to get involved with your site. We’re an automotive gift company. Take a look at our e-tail site listed above to gather a sense of our line.
Our core business is servicing catalog companies like California Car Cover etc but do a lot of direct sales via the web.
Thanks!
Warren
Almost There!, Inc.
730 Elrod Rd. , Suite B
Prescott, AZ 86305
928-708-0897
What’d you do to your site?!? It’s almost too slick. Got any grease cloth?
No grease cloth here…just lots of sweat!
we’ve been working hard and are pretty proud of the latest version. now if i can just find the time to post as often as i’d like….
Hi Gary:
Nice site you’ve built.
Jim Kenzie deserves congratulations for again winning the Targa Open division. As do the winners of the Classic and Modern divisions. But he and Brian did not win the event outright.
See http://www.rallyscoring.com/results/2006/Targa/Targa06Press0.htm
great catch Nav. That’s what happens when one is concentrating on too many things at once.
i’ll fix it up later today.
Heya Gary,
Nice to hear from you!
Spending much time at NTC these days? I’ve been a little too busy to drop by very much.
Take care,
Zoic
Hey Travis,
I drop in every couple of days, but don’t interact very often these days. too many other things on the go.
Gary… Great auto blog! Please stop by and add it to our new dynamic directory. http://www.outpost-earth.com
Gary, this blog is amazing, and while I can never seem to find to much info on the Swift GTi you ran, would it be possible to get more information on this? As an aspiring (to be) rally novice, and with my love of the Pontiac/Chevrolet Firefly/Sprint turbo cars as well as the Suzuki Swift GTi, it would be awesome to find more info on your racing history!
This was one of 11 cars put together by Suzuki Canada by the Sprongls. Essentially they were copies of the car that Ari Montenen brought to Canada from Finland, with a few minor changes. The cars were sold cheap, cheap, cheap, as in about $12,000 including all safety equipment etc. They were ready to rally. The idea was that they would run a single make series, but then Suzuki was forced to pull their support by the home company.
There are still a couple of cars competing in Ontario. Our old car is apparently in pieces in a garage somewhere. I’d love to get it back.
Would it be possible Gary to get ahold of you (by e-mail perhaps) if you have anymore specific information pertaining to your Swift (just basic information about the cars, what it was like to rally it, etc etc). My e-mail is aevokes at shaw dot ca if you are interested in parting with any knowledge you have!
Gary: Tripped over your site while searching Harewood. Went to it thru DAC Trillium races. I ran in the 60’s and then crewed for Bruce Jensen for years and then Judy Ferchat (now Irwin and separated but business partners and friends). Knew Bud quite well and often was in the ski shop. Drove a MGA, several MGB’s and finally my Elva Mk6. I see you are on the Motorsport.com forum. You should have a look at 10/10ths motorsport forum site
That’s cool that you were so close. You must have seen me running around as a little kid then.
I’ll shoot Bud an e-mail and get him in on this conversation.
Gary: Check out http://www. orilliapacket.com Fri. for the story on Len Campbell and his boat: former FF and F Atlantic driver. This is about part 4.
I have posted on http://www.race-cars.com earlier with part one. Wed. Packet also has a story on it and can probably be found in their archives.
Gary: It was front page main headline in Fri. edition. If you look today scroll down to local news last 3 editions. It is the bottom item. I expect the earlier stories are now in their pay archives.
Gary,
Great site! I’d like to add a link to it on my site, and am wondering if you might consider doing the same for me. Check my photos out at http://web.mac.com/brittkrebs/
Thanks,
Britt
Hey Britt,
Great work. I’ve added you to the Car Shooter category.
Gary,
Great Blog! I’ve enjoyed reading it very much
- Mike
Hey Mike! Thanks & welcome to The Garage.
Very nice site Gary; from one car car to another, you deserve a congratulatory “pat on the back”. Rob Wagle from The X Garage
Thanks Robert,
It looks like you’ve been hard at work too!
Welcome to The Garage.
Hey Gary, excellent website. Its always great to see a fellow enthusiast interested in the right things.
Have you had the chance to get any track time yourself? If so we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Hey Henry,
Welcome to The Garage & thanks for the compliment.
Have a look at the IMPA test days posts. Finally after 15 years away, I finally got back on track.
Gary,
Really enjoying your car reviews. They are easy to understand and I think they really hit home with the typical car buyer…who in my opinion, doesn’t want all the gear head details, just the facts. Especially like your reviews on hybrid vehicles!
Jeff
Had a brief scan of your blog — and I like it, will read more later, cheers Charles.
Thanks Charles. Welcome to The Garage!
Hey Gary! Thanks for mentioning about my experience on the new Honda Stream at your site! How did you discover my blog, may I ask?
Your blog is very informative and will add you to my blogroll. I would like to know about the motoring scene in Canada too. This is my first time at your blog and I dont recall whether i visited your blog before.
Once again, thanks for quoting my name and blog at your latest post on the CoW. Also, may I know what CoW is all about? Is it a printed publication ?
THanks and cheers, Gary.
Hey Andy, You submitted your post to the Carnival of Wheels, through blogcarnival.com In other words, you found me!
Thanks for the compliments.
I believe i have the car you are talking about. i have rebuilt the engine but have not competted with it yet. i am in the process of trying to compete in the Targa Newfoundland next year. i will begin to prep it in august or september this for next year.
Leave a Comment